Advent SQ9204 review

At just £380, Advent’s SQ9204 is one of the cheapest PCs we’ve reviewed, and looks great value. There’s a lot to like about it. For a start, it has a one-year onsite warranty, so if anything goes wrong it should be easy to get it fixed. There’s also built-in WiFi, but it’s a little disappointing that only 802.11g is supported, not the faster 802.11n standard.

The 2.5GHz Core 2 Quad Q8300 processor and 4GB of RAM are a potent combination, and helped the SQ9204 to speed through our 2D benchmarks, coming near the top of the table in almost all our tests. The installed 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Home Premium means you can take advantage of all 4GB of memory.

The onboard Intel GMA 3100 graphics chip isn’t up to even light gaming and wouldn’t run our games benchmarks. It will also struggle to play HD Blu-ray movies. Fortunately, there’s a free PCI Express x16 slot, so you could add a dedicated graphics card later.

The 320GB hard disk should be big enough for all your files and documents, but it’s a little stingy at this price. There’s space in the case for four more hard disks, but with only one spare Molex connector on the power supply, you can realistically fit only one extra disk.

One irritant is the constant whine from the noisy processor cooler. Even when the computer is idle the noise is distracting, athough it’s tolerable when the SQ9204 is stowed underneath a desk. Putting the case on the floor makes sense, as the front headphone and microphone ports are mounted on the top of the computer, rather than on the front.

We’d recommend buying a new keyboard and mouse, too. The mouse is acceptable, but the spongy keyboard is uncomfortable to type on and feels cheap.

Considering its price the SQ9204 isn’t bad value, especially considering its fast processor, but you can get more for the same price if you hunt around.